Enraged Monsters - 1

When Seth arrived at the Quest Board, there were only five quests left available to him. When he inspected their requirements he became slightly annoyed.

All five quests strongly advised a party of at least three people to clear them. He didn't know which, if any at all, to choose. After looking at them a few times, he decided to just ask Sabina.

"Should I accept one of these, or should I look for a quest somewhere else?"

Sabina thought for a moment and then answered. "I think two quests here are suitable. Either of the quests asking you to gather herbs is fine. I think I'd prefer the second one slightly."

Seth looked at the two quest papers Sabina was talking about.

Gather Poison Thistle in the Blackwoods. Risks of getting poisoned by surrounding plants and snakes. The reward is 5 silver.

Gather Fireblossoms in the Blackwoods. Risk of encounters with Horned Bears and getting burned. The reward is 5 silver. Grows on rock cliffs.

Both gave a rough map, indicating where to find the herbs.

As it didn't matter much which he chose, Seth simply followed Sabina's preference.

Accepting a quest wasn't difficult. All you needed to do was press your license on the paper. It would then take a few seconds to claim.

Getting a Mercenary License and accepting a quest was surprisingly quick. In total, it was only 10 minutes.

Once outside, Seth took a good look at the map. The Blackwoods weren't too far outside this city. Seth estimated that once outside, it would take roughly twenty minutes.

He had nothing left to do, so he started walking to the city gate. On the way there, he saw a lot of people acting differently from others. He could only assume these people were players.

There wasn't a real indication for NPC or player. They all looked human and no feature told you who you were talking to.

He was stopped at the gate by a guard. "We need to check your ID before we can let you outside."

Seth was surprised. Why would you need an ID to go outside? He still reached into his pocket to grab his license though. "Does this work?"

The guard checked his Mercenary License and nodded. "You can go, have a fruitful trip!"

Seth thanked the guard and left. While walking, he grew irritated. 'When I get back, the first thing I will do is buy a backpack. It's so irritating walking with this bag and sword in my hands all the time.'

The Blackwoods started just a few hundred meters from the walls. Looking back from here, you were able to see just how large the city was.

The Blackwoods was just a normal forest, for the most part. All the tree bark was dark grey and black, it was easy to guess where the name came from. From the information he had received, he needed to go to about one-third of the forest.

The forest wasn't dense but Seth still slowed significantly to watch out for changes in the terrain.

He didn't see many animals but the vegetation was surprisingly diverse. Seth saw at least 20 to 25 different glowing herbs.

Seth had only been walking for five minutes when he saw an angry deer. It was twice as tall as him, with its enormous antlers. It didn't seem special in any way, except that its eyes were bloodred.

As soon as it saw Seth, it began rushing towards him. Seth threw the sack with food to the side but didn't know how to deal with such a large deer. It just seemed so unlikely he'd survive even one hit from it and killing it would be even more unlikely.

Sabina interrupted his thinking. "To kill large beings, the best way to go about it is dodging and counterattacking. Keep in mind that with the moment this thing has, it can't change direction easily!"

Seth followed Sabina's advice. He jumped right, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the antlers. The deer was indeed clumsy as Sabina had said. It couldn't stop itself from ramming the trees. It still recovered fast enough, though. Seth wasn't even able to come close enough to hit it.

The deer rushed forward once again, albeit at a slower pace. It didn't look as angry as before.

I jumped away once again. As soon as I had, my eyes widened, noticing it wouldn't be enough. Because the deer had slowed its pace it was able to aim at where I was. Seeing that I had already jumped, it sped up quickly.

With all my power I dodged once again. This time, however, it managed to hit my lower leg. It hurt really badly but it shouldn't be broken.

I cursed the quest giver. They really said bears were the only threat right? Was it somehow the case that this thing would never give trouble to anyone?

Quickly, I threw the thoughts out of my mind. Thinking too much while in a fight could be deadly. It wasn't necessary to think about it right now.

The deer obviously wasn't done with me yet. Invigorated by hitting me once, it charged faster than even the first time.

I had to take advantage of this. My leg couldn't handle it much longer. Even now, it hurt really badly just standing on it.

Instead of only dodging, I also had to counterattack. 'Remember the advice Sabina gave you.' I took a deep breath and at the last moment, rolled left. The deer barely rushed past me, coming to a full stop at a boulder.

I was more prepared this time, though. I had stood up again and rushed towards the deer quickly. Before it turned around, I had already planted my short sword in its side. Not too deep, but I had clearly torn through a muscle or two.

Before it could react, I retrieved my sword. Losing it would be absolutely terrible right now. I tried hitting it again, but the deer turned around. Not only did my sword scrape past it, but I was also hit squarely in the stomach.

I was knocked backward. Luckily, I had kept a good grasp on my sword. I landed against a tree a few steps away from the deer.

There was no time to bother about how badly I was hurt, though. A plan formulated in my mind. This fight needed to end quickly.

The deer came rushing at me, slightly slow due to the wound I had made. When it was close enough, I rolled to the right and stood up immediately. It once again crashed against the tree, which broke.

I held my short sword with two hands and with all the power inside of me, rammed it into the underbelly of the dear. It shook, then went limp.

Exhausted, I fell down next to the corpse.